Inside Games and Entertainment Update (TM) is published by The Word Warriors(TM), Auburn, CA. Federal law prohibits the unauthorized replication or distribution of the contents of this newsletter without the express, written permission of the publication's owners. This publication is distributed via on-line services, the Internet, and through regional and international bulletin board services who have requested permission from this newsletter's owners to distribute this product.
DISTILLATIONS: news and new products
* COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT NEWS *
Accolade (408-985-1700) is going to be extremely active in 1996 with a number of new games for a variety of platforms. One of the new offerings is called Deadlock. This title combines the classic empire-building game with a highly detailed graphic simulation and will include play capability over the Internet. This game of planetary conquest lets you become the leader of a space colony. Colonies compete for planetary dominance by subduing opposing colonies through military and economic domination. You'll explore your new world, develop its resources, and make decisions affecting the growth of individual colonies. The game involves resource management skills, technology research, building and developing the colony and culture, as well as your economic and military strengths. You'll be able to communicate via chat mode with other players who are utilizing the multiplayer function. There's high-resolution planetary and map graphics, 32-track digital sound, and 3D rendered aliens with lip-synched voice-over. This title is for CD-ROM for platforms running Windows NT, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Watch for its release this summer.
For the Sony(R) PlayStation(TM) comes PO'ed. This is a 3D, first-person shooting game that lets you run or fly through a vast world of alien enemies using Infinite Directional 3-D Play(TM). In this game, there are attacking aliens surrounding you on all sides. You're armed with a selection of more than ten weapons that range from a powerful rocket launcher to a gruesome, industrial-sized power drill. You're faced with kill-or-be-killed decisions at every turn. New to this type of shooter is the optional jet-pack that gives you the freedom to levitate and fly throughout the world with six degrees of freedom. There are over 25 levels of huge 3D spaces filled with massive structures, moving platforms, shafts, and drop-offs. The game was developed by Any Channel and there's also a special Missile Cam that allows you to ride on the nose of the explosive projectile, steer it through various environments, and destroy critters from long distances. This game will release this summer.
Also coming to the Sony PlayStation is HardBall 5. In addition to improved graphics and enhanced gameplay, HardBall 5 for the PSX will include new "closest-to-the-plate" graphics, 32-track digital sound and sim play that recreates the look and feel of real baseball. You may select from over 800 MLBPA players in one of 28 stadiums for a full game of hitting, pitching and fielding through the playoffs and world championship. Three-time national "Sportscaster of the Year" Al Michael's calls the play-by-play. This title also includes 12 all-time legendary teams, including photos and stats of the players, and 12 authentic old-time stadiums. Between games, you build and manage complete 40-man rosters over a full 162-game season, including player trades, analysis of tendencies, streaks and slumps. This baseball sim will ship this spring.
For those for whom action/adventure is the key to gaming enjoyment, Bubsy(R) 3-D is being developed for release on the PSX this spring. This title is set in five new 3D space worlds and he's involved in a new futuristic space race. Hand rendered 3D animations are combined with thousands of frames per character within computer-generated environments.
VIDEO GAME NEWS
SEGA SET
The Saturn is definitely going to become network friendly. Sega plans to use their 32-bit video console as a means to enable game competitions and multi-user games and other communications via their new network. Expect the Sega Enterprises net to debut during 1996 and to market low cost combo modem/software packages to enable this feature on the Saturn.
Sega also plans to double their worldwide sales. The company is going to accelerate their biz plans with the likes of MCA Inc., open theme parks (one is set to debut this July in Tokyo), and do all they can to raise game equipment sales.
** DIGITAL DELIGHTS **
NEW MAC ACCELERATORS
Despite all of the problems Apple is receiving in the press and on their campus of late, there are still millions of Mac users in this wide, wacky, wonderful world. And one item of interest to Mac users is acceleration of their Mac computers, especially now as more and more processing power and speed is required to run the multimedia delights available for purchase. Out of Toronto comes news that ATI Technologies as announced their Xclaim MM. This is a 64-bit accelerator for Mac systems that employ PCI. The product includes full support for QuickDraw and QuickTime acceleration, plus video capture of the highest quality.
This offering can take a Power Macintosh 7200 to the operational level of a Power Macintosh 8500, plus toss in the added benefits of MPEG expansion options and a TV tuner. Another plus is the use of 2MB of synchronous memory, which can provide as much as four times conventional DRAM operation, yet maintains pricing parity. The processor used is the ATI-264VT which offers full screen, full motion TV-quality, fully optimized for QuickTime movie playback. You can connect a video camera, VCR or any other video source directly to the Xclaim MM to capture stills or movies. As far as off-the-shelf performance is concerned, this product can display as many as 16.7 million colors at up to 832x642 resolution. True color support for 1152x870 resolution may be obtained through the addition of another 2MB memory upgrade. Watch for this puppy and associated modules to become available during Q2 of this year, with pricing at around 300 for Xclaim MM. The TV tuner and hardware MPEG modules'll go for something just under $150, while 2MB memory upgrades will be priced at about $70.
** OTHER ENTERTAINING NEWS ***
MOVIE ENHANCEMENT
Looks as though Turner Network Television (TNT) and Coca-Cola USA are going to combine their forces to try and enhance the movie-going experience. Called "pre-feature entertainment," this venture's gonna run through February 14th. What moviegoers will see is a fast-paced, short-form film that'll run before the feature film on more than 7,000 screens across the nation. The intent is to provide romantic movie memories by showing scenes from TNT's current programming schedule using moments from Casablanca (1942), The Player (1992), the yet-to-debut Riders of the Purple Sage (end of this January), The Big Chill (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and many others.
POWERFUL HEAD-TO-HEAD PROGRAMMING
The success of Dateline NBC has now culminated with the news that this three-day-a-week TV news magazine is going to pit itself against CBS' 60 Minutes on Sunday nights, starting this March. There will then be four Dateline airs each week, each one anchored by Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips.
DISNEY'S CAP CITY PURCHASE OKAYED
The Justice Department has now cleared Walt Disney Company's purchase of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. The $19 billion dollar deal will go into effect once Disney sells their Los Angeles television station, KCAL-TV. That sale still requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, but everyone figures that OK should come before February 1st. The sale must occur within the next nine months, otherwise the DOJ could file a consent decree in LA's federal court, meaning Disney would have to find a trustee to handle the sale of the station. No other anticompetitive effects were found by the Justice Department.
HYPERNAUTS DEVELOPMENT TO SPEED UP
ABC has requested that the development of Hypernauts, a new children's TV series produced by Netter Digital Entertainment in association with Foundation Imaging, Inc., and Greengrass Productions, be accelerated. This is a science fiction series for children and combines live action with computer graphics. The enthusiasm from ABC for the show will now find Hypernauts debuting in March for 13 episodes, with a commitment for eight additional scripts.
A HALLELUJAH HAPPENING
Finally, the long awaited announcement has been made. A new, long term, worldwide recording pact has been signed between Virgin Records and Janet Jackson. Janet has won a variety of awards and kudos for her work and is looking forward to continuing her working relationship with her Virgin family.
VIACOM LOSES PRES
Effective immediately, Frank Biondi Jr. has resigned as the president and CEO of Viacom Inc. Taking over as CEO will be Sumner M. Redstone. No reason was given for Biondi's resignation. He earned just over $4 million in 1994, $3 million of that total in bonuses.
3RD ROCK DEBUTS IN 10TH PLACE
This winner of the Nielsen Ratings for the week of January 8 through 14 is NBC. In the top ten, the network had seven of the shows. This included the premiere of 3rd Rock from the Sun in 10th place. Champs, the sitcom from DreamWorks SKG on ABC, landed in 18th place. NBC achieved a prime time 11.2 rating and 18 share. Of the solid networks, ABC was in second, third was CBS, and Fox brought up the rear. New networks WB had a 2.7 rating and a 4 share and UPN had a 2.3 rating and 3 share. The latter networks offer five and 4-1/2 hours of programming, respectively. For your info, one rating point equals 959,000 TV households. A share is the percentage of TV sets that are in use at any one time tuned to a particular broadcast.
HE'S BACK . . .
Despite all of the rumors, despite all of the indications that he wished to leave audiences wanting more, despite the belief he wished to quit while he was on top, seems as though Jerry Seinfeld will be returning to NBC for an eighth season. Seinfeld has constantly ranked in the top 10 rated shows.
ADS ALL PURCHASED
One of the "hot" time spots each year is the Super Bowl. As of now, all of the advertising spots have been sold. And this was certainly not a cheap buy--cost was a record $1 million or more for each spot. NBC feels they'll earn up to a 47 rating which could well justify the cost of the ads.
* ONLINE STUFF *
SOFTWARE LIBRARY FOR THE WINNING
A new interactive, on-line game called Manic Maze! has been launched by InfoMedia's WorldVillage. The offering is sponsored by Legend Entertainment Company. The URL for this World Wide Web game is http://www.worldvillage.com/maze.htm. Visitors to the site can register to win a game from Legend Entertainment, but those who successfully complete this 3D complex puzzle will be registered to win a software library valued at $250. A weekly winner will receive either Mission Critical, Shannara, or a compilation of seven Legend titles. When you enter the maze, you're dropped into a realistically rendered "hedge-maze." By clicking on the available direction arrows, you can move left, right, forward or backward. Occasional landmarks help you get your bearings, but warp holes which displace your position make the maze even more challenging.
INTERNET MUSIC DISTRIBUTOR GARNERS INTEREST
NAMS International, Inc., is a distributor of interactive music videos and computer software products on the Internet. Now, Quatrophonic Music Corporation has announced their intention to acquire a controlling interest in NAMS. Merger backing is provided by J.E.A. Enterprises, L.L.C., a newly-formed private investment firm headed by Joseph Antonini, the former chairman, president and CEO of Kmart Corp. Quatrophonic will hold a 76 percent interest in the subsidiary, with the company and MANS looking at some other funding alternatives, including an IPO. The marketplace of the future is on-line, feel both companies, and NAMS will be able to provide Quatrophonic artists and products with access to the WWW. Downloadable motion video files can be downloaded as shareware at a rate 7X faster than conventional video files that are currently found on the Net. These NAMS video files will then play back, in real-time, from the PC's hard drive. The site is at http://www.mw3.com/nams. Already Todd Rundgren is posting two music videos on NAMS, and TVT Records and Wax Trax will make their entire music catalog available for this service. The on-line videos include excerpts from Queen, Beautiful People, Michael Quatro, Spooky Ruben, Bad Sun and others.
KARAOKE VIA MSN
If you're using Windows 95 software and are a Microsoft Network (MSN) subscriber, soon you'll be able to download any of 10,000 initially-offered karaoke songs to play at home on your karaoke system. This possibility is thanks to an agreement between Microsoft Corporation and Nikkodo Company. The latter is a major trading firm of commercial-use karaoke equipment and software. No special equipment will be needed and this service should start sometime this spring.
PRODIGY ON THE SELLING BLOCK
Sears and IBM are rumored to be actively seeking out ways to rid themselves of Prodigy. Sears wants about $500 million for their 50 percent ownership of the commercial online service. The interest in the Internet is playing havoc for most commercial on-line services and IBM, once contacted by AT&T for the service, is still unsure as to what they should do with their 50 percent share.
SPYGLASS $$$ UP
Net income for Spyglass has risen 145 percent for Q1, with net income reaching $722,000. For the same period one year ago, the company earned $295,000. The reason for the performance, according to the company, are the additional licensing agreements for the company's Mosaic Web browser plus many new Spyglass Server technology customers.
NEW MICROSOFT ACQUISITION
A pioneer company in the development of visual, standards-based Web publishing tools is Vermeer Technologies, Inc. Based in Massachusetts, the company's FrontPage(TM) creates and manages Web documents without the need of learning to program. The company has now been acquired by Microsoft. Plans are for FrontPage to become part of a rich offering of tools for Internet users. Currently available for Windows users, and soon to be released for Mac users, the FrontPage Editor creates and edits HTML pages and supports many new extensions. FrontPage Explorer presents graphic visualization and management of Web sites composed of multiple documents and images. WebBots implement Web server functionality and handles text searches, threaded discussion forums and feedback forms.
** DEVELOPER DUMP **
2X PRO CD RECORDING $$ REDUCTION
One manufacturer of optical storage solutions is Plasmon Data, Inc. That company has now reduced the price on their CDR4220 series of 2x CD-Recording products. These units also function as 4X readers, and are ISO 9660 compliant. Also, CD-ROM(XA), multisession, CD-Audio and CD-i are the formats fully supported. Street prices'll now be around $1050 for internal, and $1200 for external, PC versions. The PC drives include such niceties as Easy-CD Pro for Windows, Win 95 and Windows NT, as well as a host adapter from Adaptec and blank media. (The latter is great, 'cause now you can dig right in and archive or produce without worrying about not having the media round to record upon.) Mac users haven't been forgotten, either. The Mac version of the CDR4220 is priced at around $1175 and includes Easy-CD Pro for the Macintosh.
WINDOWS NT GETS ANIMATION TOOLS
A new version of Microsoft's 3D modeling and animation software, Microsoft Softimage 3D, is now shipping for Windows NT. This software offers the same 3D animation environment as Softimage 3D for Silicon Graphics(R) systems. Softimage provides digital artists with 3D modeling and animation tools for creating characters and film scenes, commercials, games, interactive media titles and other production. The company merged with Microsoft in 1994 and is part of the company's advanced-authoring tools group.
Mudgeon: On Games(TM)
Druid for PC CD-ROM
from Sir-Tech Software
Many times in life we face situations we did not expect. For example, perhaps your first trip to Disneyland encounters lines as long as the depositions in the Whitewater hearings. Not what you expected! All you'd heard about was the fun you'd have riding the themed attractions, the clean atmosphere, and the friendly cast members. After standing in line for over three hours to see the new Indy Jones attraction, perhaps your enthusiasm for the amusement park began to wane.
Other disappointments, such as not getting your raise or finding out your trip to Whistler for skiing has to be delayed, become bitter pills to swallow. Not that I would rank this particular product in such harsh terms, but disappointment is the only way to describe Druid. There are two main reasons such is my determination. First, I have been a Sir-Tech and Wizardry fan from the early days, when Robert Sirotek and Bob Whitehead actually sold their product in cellophane bags as early Apple ][ computer shows. Wizardry itself is more than a classic series of games--they have become an institution for fantasy role-playing gamers. They set the tone for all that followed.
The company itself, from the effervescent Brenda Garno to the scintillating Shari Mitchell in PR to the leader himself, are some of the nicest folk in the biz you'd ever wish to meet. They are conscientious, enjoy their work, and produce good, solid products. Unfortunately, Druid was an acquisition by Sir-Tech of a product developed by a third-party that does not seem to have gone through the "normal" testing process most Sir-Tech products undergo.
Let's give this title some praise for the marvelous texture-mapping and rendering used to build the characters. No doubt about it--awesome! Let's credit the title with a smooth installation process, wherein the selection of your sound and/or MIDI cards is automatically determined. Awesome.
However, it is because of the high quality 3D work that, even on my 100MHz Pentium machine, this title doesn't even crawl--it's slower than frozen honey. Movement requires the patience of a saint as you indicate where you your lead character should move. Combat is agonizingly slow--you must double click on your target and then you wait for something to happen. The initial combat with two green creatures required more than eight minutes to complete! Totally unacceptable!
Here is a case of where the technology overrides game play, where consideration for what's cool overcame consideration of gamers. Druid is an unplayable title. Period. Don't bother with it. If developers are looking for ways to impress others with their coding and graphics skill sets, show demos or portfolios. If companies wish to earn income from games that are successful, for heavens sake test your products before you ship them. Druid is a real drag.--Mudgeon
